Electronic information system enabling email-based transactions with forms

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for improving digital transaction using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). The method includes determining to whether an alert related to a task is sent to a registered individual, on a condition that the alert related to the task should be sent, generating an email message, wherein the email includes at least one mailto link and a form for the registered individual to complete, transmitting the email message to the registered individual, receiving a response email from the registered individual, authenticating the email message and decoding a token, and updating an information database.

CLAIM FOR PRIORITY

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/256,478 filed Nov. 17, 2015, which is/are incorporated by referenceas if fully set forth.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention is related to electronic information systems. Moreparticularly, the present invention is a system and method that aids intask management system in storage communication, display, and reportingwith forms using email, SMS, and social media.

BACKGROUND

An organization, such as a military unit, commercial enterprise,nonprofit, utility, government office or other type of organization, maybe required to periodically perform one or more tasks in order toachieve goals and/or comply with requirements associated with theirparticular domain. In one example, a commercial enterprise or commercialunit may be required to comply with state or federal regulations.Conformance to the state or federal regulations may require the periodicperformance of tasks such as inspecting of hazardous waste accumulationareas, complete hazardous materials inventory, verifying medical claims,human resources training, police or military status checks, emergencyresponse tasks, updating or maintaining state or federal records, and/orother tasks.

Current information management systems allow organizations to definetasks, assign tasks to individuals, and monitor completion of the tasksthat have been assigned to those individuals. However, these informationmanagement systems are difficult to use, unnecessarily complex, andfrequently include many features that are not of interest to the user.Further, these information management systems typically include theirown login and/or authentication mechanisms, thereby adding an additionallayer of complexity and inconvenience to their use. Therefore, newinformation management technologies are required to provide a morestreamlined and straightforward user experience than what is provided incurrent technologies.

Many of the tasks that require monitoring by the organization are thecompletion of forms. Information management systems, form applications,and messaging are not well integrated and may be confusing to users.Methods of communication, task management, and form applications aredifficult to integrate for organizations. Organizations find thissituation intolerably confusing. A system that integrates messaging,with the use of forms and information management of tasks would bewelcome in the market place.

Current information management systems require users to make up datesusing a single method of communication. This is inconvenient andimpractical, in an environment where multiple forms of communicationhappen on a single device. A method that allows for multiple forms ofcommunication would be welcome in the market place.

SUMMARY

Individuals may be registered with the information management system andbe associated with a group. An information management system may storeinformation related to tasks to be performed or tasks related to formsto be completed by registered individuals in a group. These forms may beattached to the message or embedded in the message. The informationmanagement system may transmit information to the registered individualsregarding tasks they are expected to perform, actions they have taken oropinions they have formed. Further, the information management systemmay receive completed forms in emails from the registered individualsregarding the progress of the performance of the tasks, such as whethera particular task has been completed, partially complete, encounteringproblems or is still in progress. The information management system mayreceive forms transmitted from the registered individuals regarding theprogress of the performance or other criteria. The informationmanagement system may also receive requests to generate reportsregarding task status and progress information held by the forms acrossthe organization or group and communicate the report to the registeredindividuals. Communication between the registered individuals and theinformation management system may be performed by email, SMS or socialmedia.

The registered individuals may use the secure environment of theiremail, SMS, or social media account to transmit response messages andforms to the information management system. Therefore, the informationmanagement system may not require a login or authentication procedurethat is specific to the information management system. Registeredindividuals may interact with the information management system withoutlogging into the information management system.

The information management system may be included in an architecturethat also includes one or more client modules such as an email clientmodule, SMS handler or social media network, and/or a report displaymodule that is used by registered individuals in the organization. Theinformation management system may generate an email, SMS, or socialmedia message transmission to the registered individual. The message mayinclude one or more links or forms. The registered individuals may fillout a form included with the response message. The content of the linksor forms may be included in the response message back to the informationmanagement system. The new message may be sent back to the informationmanagement system. The information management system may then performthe action indicated by the action type parameter. The action type maybe, for example, updating a database to indicate a status or storage ofa task and/or response to a form.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more detailed understanding may be had from the following description,given by way of example in conjunction with the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIG. 1A illustrates an example architecture that may be used for thecommunication storage and display of information related to taskmanagement via email, SMS and social media with the use of forms;

FIG. 1B shows an example system that may be used to implement thecommunication, storage and display of information related to taskmanagement with the use of forms in the architecture of FIG. 1A;

FIGS. 2A and 2B collectively illustrate a method for communication of analert message to a registered individual and for updating a taskinformation database based on the response to the alert message with theuse of forms.

FIGS. 3A-C illustrate an example of possible form types;

FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C collectively illustrate a method for updating thetask information database with information related to new registeredindividual, new forms, and/or new assignments of tasks to registeredindividual;

FIG. 5A. shows an example email display window that may be used by theregistered user email client module to display the receivedadministrative message;

FIGS. 5B-C illustrate examples of forms that may be messaged from theinformation management system to a registered individual that requiresthe new form;

FIGS. 6A and 6B collectively illustrate a method for communication of anSMS or social media alert message to a registered user and for updatinga task information database 180 based on the response to the alertmessage; and

FIG. 7 shows an example SMS display window that may be used by theregister individual SMS or social media module to display the SMS orsocial media message.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

All embodiments described below may be used in tandem or in relation tospecific vendor or customer needs. They may also be integrated with anemail service provider, customer relationship management, or directlywith a payment processor. Although the description below focuses on theuse of Short Message Service (SMS) and email, social media networkmessaging may also be used. The configuration of the system may varybased on client needs.

FIG. 1A shows an example architecture 100 that may be used for thecommunication storage and display of information related to taskmanagement via email, SMS (Short Message Service), and social media withthe use of forms. The example architecture 100 includes an informationmanagement system 110, a registered individual's email client module120, SMS and social media module 130, and a report display module 140.As will be described in further detail below, the information managementsystem 110 may store information related to tasks to be performed byregistered individuals in a group, and may transmit information toregistered individuals regarding tasks they are expected to perform.Further, the information management system 110 may receive informationfrom the registered individual's regarding the progress of theperformance of tasks (e.g., whether a particular task has been completedor is still in progress). The messages may include forms which theregistered individuals fill out and the information management system110 decodes and stores. The information management system 110 maygenerate reports regarding task progress across the group andcommunicate the reports to registered individuals. Reports may be partof the task alerts or forms, or included in a separate set of messaging.

The information management system 110 may include a form module 150, anupdate module 154, an alert module 156, a token module 152, a systememail client module 165, a system SMS and social media module 175, areport display module (not depicted), a database module 145, and a taskinformation database 180. The task information database 180 may storeinformation related to one or more tasks one or more organizations, andone or more individual users, and/or other task-related information.Tasks as used herein may also incorporate forms for use with tasks, forexample. The database module 145 may perform functionality such asadding data to, modifying data in, querying data from, and/or retrievingdata from the task information database 180.

The alert module 156 may perform functionality such as determining whenan alert message related to a task should be sent to a registeredindividual. An alert message may indicate, for example, that theregistered individual is required to complete a task and/or what theregistered individual is required to perform in order to complete thetask.

The system email client module 165 may perform functionality such as thetransmission and reception of email messages. The system email clientmodule 165 may be configured to use one or more email accounts that areassociated with the information management system 110, and to receivemessages associated with the one or more email accounts. As an example,when the alert module 156 makes a determination that an alert message issent to a registered individual, the alert module 156 may communicatethe contents of the email message to the system email client module 165,and the system email client module 165 may transmit a correspondingemail message. Further, when a new email message is received at an emailaccount used by the system email client module 165, the system emailclient module 165 may communicate the email messages to the updatemodule 154 and/or the form module 150.

The system SMS and social media module 175 may perform functionalitysuch as the transmission and reception of messages. The system SMS andsocial media module 175 module may be configured to use one or moreaccounts that are associated with the information management system 110,and to receive messages associated with the one or more SMS and socialmedia module accounts. As an example, when the alert module 156 makes adetermination that an alert message should be sent to a registeredindividual, the alert module 156 may communicate the contents of themessage to the system SMS and social media module 175, and the systemSMS and social media module 175 may transmit a corresponding message.Further, when a new message is received at an SMS and social mediaaccount used by the system SMS and social media module 175, the systemSMS and social media module 175 may communicate the messages to theupdate module 154 and/or the form module 150.

The update module 154 may perform functionality related to updating thetask information database 180 based on messages from registeredindividuals that are received by the system email client module 165. Forexample, the update module 154 may periodically check the system emailclient module 165 to determine if a new email message has been received.If the update module 154 determines that an email message indicates thata task has been completed, the update module 154 (in conjunction withthe database module 145) may update the task information database 180accordingly.

The form module 150 may perform functionality related to providing formsor reports to registered individuals in the group. For example, the formmodule 150 may periodically check the system email client module 165 todetermine if a new email message has been received. If the form module150 determines that a new email message has been received that indicatesa request for a form from a registered individual, the form module 150may generate the corresponding form, and may communicate the form to thesystem email client module 165. The system email client module 165 maythen transmit a corresponding email message that includes the form tothe registered individual that requested the form. The display modulemay then display the form via a display device (not depicted).

The registered user email client module 120 may perform functionalityrelated to the communication and display of email messages. Theregistered user email client module 120 may be configured to use anemail account that is associated with a registered individual in theorganization, and to receive messages associated with the email account.

The system email client module 165 and/or the registered user emailclient module 120 may communicate email messages using technologies suchas Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Post Office Protocol (POP)technology, Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Remote ProcedureCall (RPC) technology, HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and/or otherappropriate technologies. The system email client module 165 and/or theregistered user email client module 120 may be or include an emailclient such as Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, GMail, Thunderbird, a webbrowser, or any other client application for the communication of emailmessages. The system email client module 165 and/or registered useremail client module 120 may communicate email messages via one or moreemail servers (not depicted).

The registered user SMS and social media module 130 may performfunctionality related to the communication and display of messages. Theregistered user SMS and social media module 130 may be configured to usean email account that is associated with a registered individual in theorganization, and to receive messages associated with the SMS and socialmedia account.

The system SMS and social media module 175 and/or the registered userSMS and social media module 130 may communicate messages using ShortMessage Service (SMS), and social media networks may also be used.Although some examples and discussion herein generally use SMS, othertexting formats may be substituted for SMS including Extensible MarkupLanguage (XMPP), multimedia messaging service (MMS), Session InitiationProtocol (SIP), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Messaging QueuingTelemetry Transport (MQTT), and Apple Push Notification Service (APNS)used in services such as Viber, Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, iMessageand other forms of Internet Telephony Protocol. Various forms of socialmedia may be used such as Facebook and Twitter. The system SMS andsocial media module 175 and/or the registered user SMS and social mediamodule 130 may be or include an SMS and social media account such asiMessage, Whatsapp, Viber, Facebook, Twitter, a web browser, or anyother messaging application for the communication of SMS and socialmedia messages. The system SMS and social media module 175 and/orregistered user SMS and social media module 130 may communicate messagesvia one or more SMS and social media servers (not depicted).

The task information database 180 may be spread across one or any numberof computer-readable storage media (not depicted). The task informationdatabase 180 may be or include, for example, a relational database, ahierarchical database, an object-oriented database, a flat file, aspreadsheet, or a structured file. The database module 145 may interfacewith a database management system (not depicted) in order to add datato, modify data in, or obtain data from the task information database180. Alternatively or additionally, the database module 145 may performdatabase drive and/or database client functionality to interact with thedatabase management system. The database management system may be basedon a technology such as Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, MySQL,PostgreSQL, Oracle Relational Database Management System (RDBMS), or anyother appropriate technology.

The task information database 180 may include data that describes tasksin terms of “recurrences.” The task information database 180 may includeforms, and store forms, used for completing tasks, for example. A“recurrence” is an instance of a performance of a task. As an example,an organization may be required update its hazardous materialinventories once per month. In this example, the “task” is updatinghazardous material inventories, and the task is associated with a“recurrence” for each month. The task information database 180 maytherefore include information that indicates that the task is associatedwith a recurrence each month. Further, for each task, the taskinformation database 180 may include information such as one of or anycombination of the following: an identifier of the task; a name of thetask; a description of the task; an area related to the task; a date onwhich the task is due; an end date for the task; one or more alert datesthat indicate when alert messages related to the task should be sent;files that are related to the task; an identifier of a registeredindividual to whom the task should be escalated if the task is nottimely completed; recurrence information; and/or other information.Recurrence information for a task may include, for example, how often atask recurs, in which week a task recurs, on what day a task recurs,and/or other information.

For each recurrence of a task, the task information database 180 mayinclude information such as one of or any combination of the following:an identifier of the recurrence; an identifier of the associated task; adate on which the task/recurrence must be performed; one or more dateson which alerts related to the recurrence should be sent; informationthat indicates whether alerts related to the recurrence have been sent;an identifier of the registered individual assigned to perform thetask/recurrence; information that indicates when and/or if informationan escalation email was sent; information related to performance of thetask/recurrence; and/or other information. Information related toperformance of the task/recurrence may include, for example, informationthat indicates that the task has been completed or is still in progress,a time at which the registered individual indicated that the recurrencewas completed or is still in progress, an identifier of the registeredindividual who completed the recurrence, and/or comments from theregistered individual related to progress of the performance of therecurrence. A spell-checker module (not depicted) in the informationmanagement system 110 may periodically perform spelling and grammarcorrections on the comments that are included in the task informationdatabase 180.

For each registered individual, the task information database 180 mayinclude information such as one of or any combination of the following:an identifier; a first name; a last name; a position title or jobdescription; an email address; one or more phone numbers; one or morefax numbers; an identifier of the organization with which the registeredindividual is associated; and/or other information. The information mayalso include privileges and/or security information, such as whether theregistered individual is authorized as an administrator and/or whatlevel of privileges are possessed by the registered individual. Althoughin this method described an individual is required to be registeredthere may be a version of the system were different requirements may beused. The task information database 180 may also include informationthat describes one or more email signatures associated with theregistered individual.

For each organization in the task information database 180, informationmay be stored such as: an identifier of the organization; a name of theorganization; a description of the organization; and/or otherinformation. The task information database 180 may also includeinformation that describes facilities that are associated with anorganization. For each facility in the task information database 180,the task information database 180 may include information such as thename of the facility and the address of the facility. The taskinformation database 180 116 may also include information that indicateswhich facility a registered individual is associated with.

Each or any combination of the modules described herein above may beimplemented as software modules, specific-purpose processor elements, oras combinations thereof. Suitable software modules include, by way ofexample, an executable program, a function, a method call, a procedure,a routine or sub-routine, one or more processor-executable instructions,an object, or a data structure.

FIG. 1B illustrates a systems diagram for the communication, storage,and display of information related to task management with the use offorms. All embodiments described below may be integrated with an emailservice provider, customer relationship management, or other applicationsuch as one used for training employees. Although the description belowfocuses on the use of email messaging, social media and SMS networks mayalso be substituted. Also disclosed herein are descriptions for SMS andsocial media versions of the system. The configuration of theinformation management system 110 may vary based on client needs orstate and federal requirements. A method and system allows theinformation management system 110 to send emails to registeredindividuals where registered individuals may make updates to assignedtasks by selecting mailto links that are associated with each task. Theregistered individuals may send the response email to the informationmanagement system 110. The email may also contain an attached orembedded form which the registered individuals update or fill out. Eachmailto link may hold a token generated by the information managementsystem 110. The information management system 110 may authenticate theemail and decode the token and form. The information from the token andform may be stored by the information management system 110 and sharedwith other registered individuals as tasks or reports. Limited accessmay be granted to non-registered individuals.

FIG. 1B shows an example system 1 that may be used to implement thearchitecture 100 of FIG. 1A. The example system 1 includes anadministrative server 50, a database server 60, a client device 70, andone or more networks 80.

The administrative server 50 may include a processor 52, memory device54, communication interface 56, input device interface 55, displaydevice interface 57, and storage device 59. The database server 60 mayinclude a processor 62, memory device 64, communication interface 66,input device interface 65, display device interface 67, and storagedevice 69. The client device 70 may include a processor 72, memorydevice 74, communication interface 76, input device interface 75,display device interface 77, and storage device 79.

The administrative server 50 may be configured to perform any feature orcombination of features described herein as performed by the form module150, update module 154, alert module 156, system SMS/social media module165, system email client module 165, and/or database module 145. Thestorage device 69 in the database server 60 may store the taskinformation database 180 or a portion thereof. The database server 60may be configured to perform any feature or combination of featuresdescribed herein related to the storage of data in the task informationdatabase 180. The client device 70 may be configured to perform anyfeature or combination of features described herein as performed by theuser SMS/social media module 130, user email client module 120 and/orthe report display module 140. The client device 70 may be, for example,a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a netbook, a tablet computer, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a cellular phone, or any otherappropriate device.

Each or any of the memory devices 54, 64, 74 may be or include a devicesuch as a Dynamic Random Access Memory (D-RAM), Static RAM (S-RAM), orother RAM or a flash memory. Each or any of the storage devices 59, 69,79 may be or include a hard disk, a magneto-optical medium, an opticalmedium such as a CD-ROM, a digital versatile disk (DVDs), or Blu-Raydisc (BD), or other type of device for electronic data storage.

Each or any of the communication interfaces 56, 66, 76 may be, forexample, a communications port, a wired transceiver, or a wirelesstransceiver. Each or any of the network interfaces 56, 66, 76 may becapable of communicating using technologies such as Ethernet, fiberoptics, microwave, xDSL (Digital Subscriber Line), Wireless Local AreaNetwork (WLAN) technology, wireless cellular technology, and/or anyother appropriate technology. The communication interfaces 56, 66, 76may be used by the administrative server 50, database module 145, and/orclient device 70 to communicate via the one or more networks 80. Thecommunication interfaces 56, 66, 76 may be used by the administrativeserver 50, database module 145, and/or client device 70 to communicateany message or combination of messages described herein as communicatedby the system email client module 165, system SMS social media module175, user email client module 120, user SMS/social media module 130and/or database module 145. The one or more networks 80 may include oneor more private networks and/or one or more public networks such as theInternet. The one or more networks 80 may be based on wired and/orwireless networking technologies.

Each or any of the input device interfaces 55, 65, 75 may an interfaceconfigured to receive input from an input device such as a keyboard, amouse, a trackball, a scanner, a touch screen, a touch pad, a styluspad, and/or other device. Each or any of the input device interfaces 55,65, 75 may operate using a technology such as Universal Serial Bus(USB), PS/2, Bluetooth, infrared, and/or other appropriate technology.

Each or any of the display device interfaces 57, 67, 77 may be aninterface configured to communicate data to a display device. Each orany of the display device interfaces 57, 67, 77 may operate usingtechnology such as Video Graphics Array (VGA), Super VGA (S-VGA),Digital Visual Interface (DVI), High-Definition Multimedia Interface(HDMI), or other appropriate technology.

The memory 54 of the administrative computer 50 may store instructionswhich, when executed by the processor 52, cause the processor 52 toperform any feature or combination of features described herein asperformed by the form module 150, update module 154, alert module 156,system SMS/social media module 165, system email client module 165,and/or database module 145. The memory 64 of the database server 60 maystore instructions which, when executed by the processor 62, cause theprocessor 62 to perform any feature or combination of features describedherein as related to the storage of data in the task informationdatabase 180. These features may include, for example, executinginstructions related to a database management system, storing and/ormodifying data in the task information database 180, and/or obtainingdata from the task information database 180. The memory 74 of the clientdevice 70 may store instructions which, when executed by the processor72, cause the processor 72 to perform any feature or combination offeatures described herein as performed by the user email client module120, user SMS/social media module 130 and/or the report display module140.

The client device 70 may include or be connected to a display device(not depicted) via the display device interface 77. The display devicemay be, for example, a monitor or television display, a plasma display,a liquid crystal display (LCD), and/or a display based on a technologysuch as front or rear projection, light emitting diodes (LEDs), organiclight-emitting diodes (OLEDs), or Digital Light Processing (DLP). Thedisplay device may be configured to display, based on data received fromthe input device interface 75, any graphical elements described hereinas displayed by the user email client module 120, user SMS/social mediamodule 130 and/or the report display module 140.

FIGS. 2A and 2B collectively illustrate a method 200 for communicationof an alert message to a registered individual and for updating a taskinformation database 180 based on the response to the alert message withthe use of forms. As will be described in further detail below, thealert message may indicate that a task recurrence is expected to beperformed by the registered individual. FIGS. 2A and 2B show thedatabase module 145, the updating module, the alert module 156, the formmodule 150, the token module 152, the system email client module 165,and the device of the registered individual's (user) email clientmodule.

Method 200 begin with the alert module 156 determining whether an alertrelated to the task recurrence may be sent at step 205. Thisdetermination may be performed based on data obtained via the databasemodule 145 from the task information database 180. In one example, thealert module 156 may receive information from the task informationdatabase 180 which indicates that, for a particular task recurrence, analert email is past due and has not been sent. The alert module 156,determining that an alert related to the task recurrence should be sent,requires a form and a token. This determination may be performed basedon data obtained via the form module 150 and token module 152.

The alert module 156 and/or the system email client module 165 may thengenerate an email message with a form at step 210 and a token at step215 to be transmitted to the registered individual assigned to performthe recurrence of the task. The email message or form may describe thetask recurrence to be performed. Filling out the form may be therequired task. The form may also be an image. The email message mayindicate that it is being sent by one of the email accounts used by thesystem email client module 165. The email message may include one ormore mailto links that, when clicked by the registered individual,create a new email response message that the registered individual mayuse to respond to the email message generated by the alert module 156and/or system email client module 165. Further, the email message mayalso include one or more forms that provide information regarding thetask recurrence to be performed and may be editable by the registeredindividual. The form may be an attachment, an embedded form, orpredetermined email fields in which the registered individual respondsto questions or requests. Alternatively the message may be an SMS orsocial media message.

The system email client module 165 may then transmit the generated emailmessage at step 220 and share at step 223 the message with the device ofthe registered user's email client module 120. The email message may bereceived by the registered user's email client module 120 and displayedat step 225 by the registered user's email client module 120.

The registered individual may generate the response email by selecting amailto link at step 230. If a form is included it may be automaticallyattached to response email. Each link may be for a different form.Alternatively, the form may be attached to the email once the form iscompleted by the registered individual. The email may include a token.The token may be anywhere in the email or the form. The response emailis addressed to the information management system 110. Alternatively theselection of the hyperlink may generate the email and the form with theform completed in the window of the response email.

Referring now to FIG. 2B, the registered user's email client module 120may, in response to a selection of the send button, transmit the emailmessage based on contents of the in message composition with theinformation management system 110 at step 233.

The system email client module 165 and the token module 152 may thenreceive the email message. The system email client module 165 inconjunction with the token module 152 authenticates the email messageand decodes the token at step 235. The system email client module 165 inconjunction with the form module 150 recognizes the required formdecrypts and decodes the form at step 240. The system email clientmodule 165 takes the responses from the token and the form and updatesthe update unit at step 245. This may include, for example, the updatemodule 154 periodically querying the system email client module 165 forinformation related to new messages received by the system email clientmodule 165 for one or more of the email accounts used by the informationmanagement system 110.

The update module 154 (in conjunction with the database module 145) maythen verify the contents of the received message and update the taskinformation database 180 accordingly at step 250. This may include forexample the update module 154 parsing the contents of the received emailmessage to determine if the message is formatted appropriately.

If the update module 154 successfully verifies the contents of the tokenand form in the response message, the update module 154 may communicatewith the database module 145 to update the task information database 180accordingly. For example, if the received message indicates that a taskrecurrence has been completed or is incomplete, the task informationdatabase 180 is updated to reflect the complete/incomplete status of thetask recurrence. Additionally, the update module 154 may add thecontents of the form with the email message to the task informationdatabase 180 as part of the task recurrence. The form contents may bethe basis for other alerts or reports.

Alternatively, if the received message is a form, the update module 154may add the form in the body of the email message to the taskinformation database 180 as a comment or form on the email taskrecurrence.

Alternatively, if the received message may have a comment included bythe registered individual in the form or the body of the email, theupdate module 154 may add the texts to the task information database 180as a comment on the email task recurrence.

Alternatively, if the received message is a reassigned message, theupdate module 154 may update the task information database 180 toreflect that the task or task recurrence has been reassigned to the newregistered individual.

As described above, the update module 154 may add a comment related to atask recurrence to the task information database 180 that is based onthe contents of the received email message body or form. When doing so,the update module 154 may determine whether the email message body orform contains an email signature for the worker that transmitted theemail message with the form. This may be performed by, for example,comparing the text in the email message body or form to an emailsignature for associated with the worker that is stored in the taskinformation database 180. If the message body or form contains an emailsignature, the update module 154 may remove the signature from themessage body or form before adding the contents of the message body orform as a comment into the task information database 180.

The update module 154 and/or the system email client module 165 may thengenerate a result message that indicates the results of the messageverification and database update at step 255. This may include theupdate module 154 generating the contents of the result message andcommunicating the contents to the system email client module 165. If theupdate module 154 determined that the response message could not beverified, the update module 154 may generate contents of an emailmessage that may indicate the reason why the response message could notbe verified. (A failed or successful verification may also be a resultreported from other modules such as the authentication in the formmodule 150, token module 152 and/or system email client module 165.)

Alternatively, if the updated module and the database module 145successfully update the task information database 180 on the responsemessage, the update module 154 may generate the contents for an emailmessage that indicates that the update was successful. The generatedresult message may be addressed to indicate that it is being sent by oneof the email accounts used by the system email client module 165. Thesystem email client module 165 may then transmit the generated resultemail message to the registered user email client module 120 at step258.

FIG. 3A illustrates an example of one possible form type 300. The form300 may be encrypted. The form 300 may be attached or embedded, thecontents of a mailto link that may be edited by the registeredindividual. Tokens may be encrypted or plain text strings which containinformation to perform a transaction when sent to the informationmanagement system 110. A token may be one or multiple encrypted strings,files, passwords, cyphers, plain text, or other data which may containinformation used to perform or authenticate. There may be more than oneform or token. The form 300 and the tokens may be used separately ortogether and may be located anywhere in the message or the form 300.

FIG. 3B shows an example email display window 330 that may be used bythe registered user email client module 120 to display the receivedemail message. The email display window 330 includes a ‘Reply’ button332, a control area 334, and a message body area 336, a ‘Submit’ button338 and a form 340. The control area 334 may display control and/orheader information associated with the administrative email message,such as the email addresses of the sender 335 and recipient of themessage 337. The ‘Reply’ button 332 may respond to user input togenerate a new display element (not depicted) to respond to theadministrative email message.

The message body area 336 in the email display window 300 may displaythe body of the email message. The ‘Submit’ Button 338 and form 340 maybe contained within the message body. As an example, the message bodyarea 336 may include one or more editable forms 340, which theregistered user completes. This form 340 may allow for various types ofinput such as multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank and graphical displayadjustment. The form 340 may contain a series of hyperlinks. Thesehyperlinks may be in the body 336 and aid in the completion of the form340. As an example, the message body area 336 may include one or moreURIs or mailto hyperlinks, such as the “Submit” 338. These hyperlinksmay be defined according to the mailto URI scheme or other appropriateformat, and each may describe a new email message that may be generatedby the registered user email client module 120 when that link isselected. Each of the hyperlinks may specify that the new email messageincludes an indicator of the purpose of the hyperlink. Each mailtohyperlink may include a token associated with the request. Further, eachof the hyperlinks may specify that the subject field in the new emailmessage includes an identifier of the client with which the subjectmatter of the new email is associated. Additionally, each of thehyperlinks may specify that the new email message should be addressed toan email account used by the information management system 110 andinclude the completed form.

The message may also include one or more Uniform Resource Identifiers(URIs) hyperlinks, or mailto links such as the ‘Complete Task’ link, the‘Comments’ link and or ‘Redirect Task’ link. These links may be embeddedbehind images. The email may contain an attached or embedded form thatthe customer can access and include in the response email.Alternatively, the form may be accessed by a link and download to theregistered user's device. These forms may also contain links forgenerating response messages. Alternatively although in this example themailto link or form is delivered by email it may also be delivered byanother media such as SMS, social media, webpage or application.

FIG. 3C shows an example message composition window 350 that may bedisplayed in response to a selection hyperlink from the message bodyarea of FIG. 3B (Submit button 338). The message composition window 350may include a Send button 360, a To area 365, a CC area 367, a BCC area369, a Subject area 371, an attachment area 373, a message body area 375and a form area 380. The Send button 360 in the message compositionwindow 350 may be responsive to input from a registered individual suchas a mouse click, keyboard input, or any other type of input. Thedifferent areas in the message composition window 350 display differentportions of an email message. For example, the To area 365 includes textthat indicates email addresses to which the email message is addressed,while the message body area 375 displays the contents of the body of theemail message and the form 380. Each or any of these different areas maybe editable based on user input. Changes to the contents of these areasmay be change the corresponding portion of the email message.

FIG. 3C shows an example depiction wherein the ‘Submit’ button hyperlinkfrom the message body area of FIG. 3B is selected. The To area 365indicates that the message is addressed to task.mgmt@company.com. TheSubject area 371 indicates that the subject of the message is “ResponseTask ID001-FORM$.” In an implementation, the subject area 371 mayinclude the token. The CC area 367, BCC area 369 are blank and messagebody area 375 contains a message and the form 380.

A registered individual may add text to the body 375 of the emailmessage by adding text to or changing the text in the message body 375or the form 380. As will be described in further detail below, theinformation management system 110 may interpret the text in the form 380and/or the message body 375 of an email message in different ways, basedon information indicated in the subject 371 of the email message and/orthe purpose of the email message. For example, the body of the emailmessage 375 may be interpreted by the information management system 110as a comment related to the completion of a task recurrence, or theinformation management system 110 may expect the body of the emailmessage 375 to include an email address of the new user to whom a taskor task recurrence is being reassigned.

The above explanation of the use of forms may also be used by registeredindividuals to generate new forms used in the information managementsystem 110. FIGS. 4A-C and 5A-C show a method for updating the taskinformation database 180 with information related to new registeredindividual, composing of new forms, and/or new assignments of tasks toregistered individual. FIGS. 5A-C are examples of forms that may bemessaged from the information management system 110 to a registeredindividual that requires the new form. The form may be encrypted. Theform may be attached or embedded, the contents of a mailto link that maybe edited by the registered individual. Tokens may be encrypted or plaintext strings which contain information to perform a transaction whensent to the information management system 110. A token may be one ormultiple encrypted strings, files, passwords, cyphers, plain text, orother data which may contain information used to perform orauthenticate. There may be more than one form or token. The form and thetokens may be used separately or together and may be located anywhere inthe message. Alternatively or additionally, the form generator may beaccessed through an application, plugin or secure web browser.

The method 400 illustrated in the collective of FIGS. 4A-C may beginwith the update module 154 and/or the token module 152 generating anadministrative token for transmission to a registered individual at step405. The token module 152 and/or the system email client module 165generating administration link email message for transmission to theregistered user email client module 120 at step 410. The administrativeemail message may indicate that it is being sent by one of the emailaccounts used by the system email client module 165.

Alternatively, this message may be sent by SMS or Social Media. Theadministrative email message may include one or more mailto hyperlinksand tokens that the registered user email client module may use tocreate a new email message. The hyperlinks and tokens may, for example,specify email messages for requesting one or more form generationmessages in the information management system 110. Each form may havediffering design and requirements.

The system email client module 165 may then transmit the generatedadministrative email message at step 413 to the registered user emailclient module 120. After receiving the administrative email message, theregistered user email client module 120 may display the receivedadministrative email message at step 415. The registered user emailclient module 120 may be used to generate a request for form at step420. The registered user email client module 120 may then transmit theform request message to the system email client module 165 at step 423.

Referring now to FIG. 4B, the system email client module 165 and thetoken module 152 may then receive the form request email message andauthenticate the email and decode the token at step 425. The tokenmodule 152 and the update module 154 may then receive the form requestemail message. This may include, for example, the update module 154periodically querying the token module 152 for information related tonew messages received by the system email client module 165 for one ormore of the email accounts used by the information management system110.

The update module 154 (in conjunction with the database module 145) maythen verify the contents of the received form request message and updatethe task information database 180 accordingly at step 430. This mayinclude, for example, the update module 154 parsing the contents of thereceived administrative update email message to determine if the messageis formatted appropriately and has a valid token.

If the update module 154 successfully verifies the contents of the formrequest message, the update module 154 may communicate with the databasemodule 145 to update the task information database 180 as specified inthe form request message at step 435. In one example, the alert module156 may receive information from the task information database 180 whichindicates that a form is required to be sent to the registeredindividual at step 440. The alert module 156 determining that a messagerelated to the form should be sent, requires a “Form 2 Task Survey form”and a token (described below). This determination may be performed basedon data obtained via the form module 150 and token module 152.

The alert module 156 and/or the system email client module 165 may thengenerate an email message with form at step 445 and token at step 450 tobe transmitted to the registered individual assigned with an alertgenerated at step 455. The email message and form may describe and aidin the composition of other forms as illustrated in FIGS. 5A-B. Theemail message may indicate that it is being sent by one of the emailaccounts used by the system email client module 165. The email messagemay include one or more hyperlinks that, when clicked by the registeredindividual, creates a new email response message that the registeredindividual may use to respond to the email message generated by thealert module 156 and/or system email client module 165. Further, theemail message may also include one or more forms that provideinformation regarding the task recurrence to be performed and may beeditable by the registered individual. The form may be an attachment, anembedded form, or predetermined email fields in which the registeredindividual responds to questions or requests. The alert message with theform may be sent by system email client module 165 to registered useremail client module 120 at step 458.

Referring now to FIG. 4C, the user accesses the form at step 460 andcompletes the forms and generates the response message with therequirements for the new form at step 465. The registered user emailclient module 120 then transmits the message to the informationmanagement system 110 email client module at step 468. The system emailclient module 165 and the token module 152 may then receive the formgeneration email message and authenticate the email and decode the tokenat step 470. The system email client module 165 and the form module 150may then receive the form generation email message and compose and savethe new form for future use at step 475. The email client module and theupdate module 154 may then receive the new form response at step 480.The update module 154 and the database update the new form at step 485.The update module 154 (in conjunction with the database module 145) maythen verify the contents of the received form message and update thetask information database 180 accordingly. The form may be able to beaccessed by more than one individual or may have a restricted access.The form may require a token to be included in the message. The form mayalso contain the requirements for the entire email message such as thebody message and destinations of the message.

FIG. 5A shows an example email display window 500 that may be used bythe registered user email client module 120 to display the receivedadministrative message. Email display window 500 includes a ‘Reply’button 510, a control area 520, and a message body area 530. Controlarea 520 may display control and/or header information associated withthe administrative email message, such as the email addresses of thesender 522 and recipient of the message 524. The ‘Reply’ button 510 mayrespond to user input to generate a new display element (not depicted)to respond to the administrative email message.

The message body area 530 in the email display window may display thebody of the administrative email message 532. As an example, the messagebody area may include one or more URIs or mailto hyperlinks, such as the“Form 1 Add New User” link 534, the “Form 2 Task Survey” link 536,and/or the “Form 3 Feedback Questionnaire” link 538. These hyperlinkslinks 534, 536, 538 may be defined according to the mailto URI scheme orother appropriate format, and each may describe a new email message thatmay be generated by the registered user email client module 120 whenthat link is selected. Each of the hyperlinks 534, 536, 538 may specifythat the new email message includes an indicator of the purpose of thehyperlink.

For example, the “Form 2 Task Survey” mailto hyperlink 536 may includethe action type parameter “FORM 2 TASK SURVEY$” to indicate that themessage relates to the request for a Form 2 Task Survey to the taskinformation database 180. Each hyperlink 534, 536, 538 may include atoken associated with the request. Further, each of the hyperlinks 534,536, 538 may specify that the subject field in the new email messageincludes an identifier of the client with which the subject matter ofthe new email is associated. Additionally, each of the hyperlinks 534,536, 538 may specify that the new email message should be addressed toan email account used by the information management system 110.

The “Form 2 Task Survey” hyperlink 536 may include information thatdescribes an email message that may be used to request a series oftemplates or interfaces for the generation of a form to the taskinformation database 180.

FIG. 5B illustrates an example of one possible form type 540. In thisexample the form 540 is a template for designing a custom form. Theregistered individual may select from links such as Form maker 542, Youraccount 544, Security 546, Reports 548, and Messaging 550. These links542, 544, 546, 548, 550 may generate other response emails that requestother forms or these links 542, 544, 546, 548, 550 may be URL linkswhich navigate the user to a URL on a web browser. The registeredindividual may input a ‘personal reference title’ 552, Title of theform’ 554, specify the department 556, template type 558, and designatea distribution list 560. When completed the registered individual mayselect ‘submit’ 565 to generate a response email containing thecompleted form and addressed to the information management system 110.The form may be encrypted. The form may be attached or embedded, and thecontents of a mailto link that may be edited by the registeredindividual. Tokens may be encrypted or plain text strings which containinformation to perform a transaction when sent to the informationmanagement system 110. A token may be one or multiple encrypted strings,files, passwords, cyphers, plain text, or other data which may containinformation used to perform or authenticate. There may be more than oneform or token. The form and the tokens may be used separately ortogether and may be located anywhere in the message.

In order to complete a design of a form the registered individual may berequired to receive a series of messages from the information managementsystem 110 that contain forms that require more specific instruction.FIG. 5C is an example of an additional form 570 required after thecompletion of form 540. Multiple forms may also be included in a singleemail message. Form 570 may request an update 572, such as a monthlyupdate, and inquire about certain topics 574. User buttons 576 may beused to delete response, save responses, preview the created email,and/or send the email. Alternatively or additionally the forms may beaccessed via a web URL, application or plugin to the email client. Thatis, while the present discussion provides forms and exchanges forms viaemail, forms may be created and accessed via a web URL, a specificapplication or a plugin within the email client as well.

FIGS. 6A and 6B collectively illustrate a method 600 for communicationof an SMS or social media alert message to a registered individual forupdating a task information database 180 based on the response to thealert message. As will be described in further detail below, the SMS orsocial media alert message may indicate that a task recurrence isexpected to be performed by the registered individual. FIGS. 6A and 6Bshow the database module 145, the update module 154, the alert module156, the system email client module 165, and the device of theregistered user's email client module 120.

Method 600 may begin with the alert module 156 determining that an alertrelated to the task recurrence should be sent at step 605. Thisdetermination may be performed based on data obtained via the databasemodule 145 from the task information database 180. In one example, thealert module 156 may receive information from the task informationdatabase 180 that indicates, for a particular task recurrence, an alertSMS or social media message is past due and has not been sent. If tokensare required, they may be encrypted or plain text strings containinginformation to perform a transaction when sent to the informationmanagement system 110. A token may be one or multiple encrypted strings,files, passwords, cyphers, plain text or other data which may containinformation used to perform or authenticate. There may be more than oneform or token. The form and the tokens may be used separately ortogether and may be located anywhere in the message.

The alert module 156 and/or the system email client module 165 may thengenerate a SMS or social media message to be transmitted to theregistered individual assigned to perform the recurrence of the task atstep 610. The SMS or social media message may describe the taskrecurrence to be performed. The SMS or social media message may alsoinclude one or more attachments or forms that provide informationregarding the task recurrence to be performed. The SMS or social mediamessage may indicate that it is being sent by one of the SMS or socialmedia accounts used by the system SMS or social media module 175.Further, the SMS or social media message may include one or more promptsthat, when typed as a response by the registered individual, creates amessage that the registered individual may use to respond to the messagegenerated by the module and/or system SMS or social media module 175.

Alternatively or additionally, the SMS or social media message mayinclude one or more hyperlinks that, when clicked by the registeredindividual, will create a message that the registered individual may useto respond to the message generated by the alert module 156 and/orsystem SMS or social media module 175.

The system alert SMS or social media module may then transmit thegenerated SMS or social media message at step 613. The SMS or socialmedia message may be received by the registered individual SMS or socialmedia message module 130, and displayed by the registered individual SMSor social media message module at step 615.

The registered individual may generate an SMS and/or social mediaresponse message by typing in the instructed response based on theirknowledge of the task's completion at step 620. The message may includea token. The response message is addressed to the information managementsystem 110.

Referring now to FIG. 6B, the registered individual's SMS and/or socialmedia module 130 may, in response to a typed response and selecting ofthe send button, transmit the message based on the suggested prompts ofthe first message composition with the information management system 110at step 623.

The system's SMS and social media module 175 and the update module 154may then receive the message at step 625. This may include, for example,the update module 154 periodically querying the system's SMS or socialmedia module for information related to new messages received by thesystem's SMS or social media module for one or more of the accounts usedby the information management system 110. The message is authenticatedand the token decoded at step 625.

The update module 154 (in conjunction with the database module 145) maythen verify the contents of the received message and update the taskinformation database 180 accordingly at step 630. This may include, forexample, the update module 154 parsing the contents of the receivedemail message to determine if the message is formatted appropriately.

If the update module 154 successfully verifies the contents of thetoken, the update module 154 may communicate with the database module145 to update the task information database 180 accordingly. Forexample, if the received message indicates that a task recurrence hasbeen completed or is incomplete, the task information database 180 maybe updated to reflect the complete/incomplete status of the taskrecurrence.

Additionally, the update module 154 may add the contents of otherinformation in the message to the task information database 180 as partof the task recurrence, such as a decoded form, for example. Additionalinformation may include information not typed by the registeredindividual but included by the message format and design such as timethe message was sent or the location of the user. The message contentsmay be the basis for other alerts, reports or forms.

Alternatively, if the received message is a reassigned message, theupdate module 154 may update the task information database 180 toreflect that the task or task recurrence has been reassigned to the newregistered individual at step 630.

The update module 154 and/or the system SMS and social media module 175may then generate a result message at step 635 that indicates theresults of the message verification and database update. This mayinclude the update module 154 generating the contents of the resultmessage, and communicating the contents to the system's SMS and socialmedia module. If the update module 154 determined that the responsemessage could not be verified, the update module 154 may generatecontents of a message indicating the reason why the response messagecould not be verified. (A failed or successful verification may also bea result reported from other modules such as the authentication in theSMS and social media module.)

Alternatively, if the updated module and the database module 145successfully update the task information database 180 on the responsemessage, the update module 154 may generate the contents for a messagethat indicates the update was successful. The generated result messagemay be addressed to indicate that it is being sent by one of the SMS orsocial media accounts used by the system's SMS or social media module atstep 638.

FIG. 7 shows an example SMS display window 700 that may be used by theregister individual SMS or social media module 130 to display the SMS orsocial media message. The SMS or social media display window 700includes a composition area 710, and a message body area 720. Thecomposition area 710 may display the text the registered individual issending before transmitting the message. The message area 720 maydisplay the body of the SMS. As shown in FIG. 7, the message body area720 display an example email message 725 that describes a taskrecurrence to be performed by an example worker named John Smith, forexample ‘Did you recycle containers in Lab 102?’. The message area 720may also include one or more prompts, such as the “Text ‘CompletedTask252’” 727, the ‘Text “Incomplete Task252’” link 729, the ‘Text“Comments252” 731, and/or the ‘Text “Redirect Task252” 733.

Each of the prompts indicates a type of an action to be performed by theinformation management system 110. Types of actions that the informationmanagement system 110 may perform include updating the task informationdatabase 180 to indicate that a task has been completed 727 or isincomplete 729, updating the task information database 180 with acomment related to a task 731, reassigning a task from thecurrently-assigned individual to a new individual 733, and/or otheractions. Further, each of the prompts may specify that the messageincludes an identifier of the task recurrence that is described. In thiscase the task is ‘252.’ Further, each of the prompts may specify thatthe new message should be addressed to an SMS or social media accountused by the information management system 110. The specific set ofprompts serve as one example, other variations may be utilized.

The “Completed Task252” prompt 727 may include information that, ifreceived by the information management system 110, indicates to theinformation management system 110 that a task recurrence hassuccessfully been completed, and that the task information database 180should be updated accordingly. As an example, the task recurrencedescribed in the message area 720 may have an identifier of “CompletedTask252” 727 and an action type parameter that indicates that the taskinformation database 180 should be updated to reflect completion of atask may be “Completed Task252” 727.

The “Incomplete Task252” prompt 729 may include information that, ifreceived by the information management system 110, indicates to theinformation management system 110 that a task recurrence is incomplete.As an example, the task recurrence described in the message area 720 mayhave an identifier of “Incomplete Task252” 729 and an action typeparameter that indicates that the task information database 180 shouldbe updated to reflect that the task is incomplete may be “IncompleteTask252” 729.

The “Comments252” hyperlink 731 may include information that, ifreceived by the information management system 110, indicates to theinformation management system 110 that the registered individual isproviding a comment on a task recurrence. As an example, the taskrecurrence described in the message area 720 may have an identifier of“Comments252” 731 and an action type parameter that indicates that thetask information database 180 should be updated to include the commentsmay be “Comments252” 731. Further to this example, the Incomplete Taskprompt may describe a new message. As is described in further detailherein, by using a “Comments252” message 731, a registered individualmay provide comments to the information management system 110.

The “Redirect Task252” prompt 733 may include information that, ifreceived by the information management system 110, indicates to theinformation management system 110 that the registered individual isrequesting that the task or task recurrence mentioned in the messagearea be reassigned to a different registered individual.

The task to be completed may be the completion of an attached orembedded form.

The registered individual SMS or Social Media module may receive aregistered individual's input 735 that indicates that one of the promptshas been entered. The system 110 may confirm the individual input 745.

A user may add text to the body of the email message by adding text toor changing the text in the message body area 710. The informationmanagement system 110 may interpret the text in the message body 720 ofa message in different ways, based on information indicated in theprompt of the message and/or the purpose of the message.

The system's SMS and social media module 175 may then transmit thegenerated message and share the message with the device of theregistered individual's SMS and/or social media module 130. The messagemay be received and displayed by the registered individual's SMS andsocial media module 130. The message may also include messages forsending back updates, for example, ‘Complete Task’, the ‘Comments’ andor ‘Redirect Task’. Alternatively, a link may be sent that allows theregistered individual to access a web page where updates can be made.

The registered individual may generate an SMS and/or social mediaresponse message 735 by typing in the instructed response based on theirknowledge of the task's completion. The message may include a token. Theresponse message is addressed to the information management system 110.

The system's SMS or social media module 175 may then transmit thegenerated result message to the registered individual's SMS and/orsocial media module 130. In FIG. 7. This response is noted as‘CONFIRMED’ 745.

When referred to herein, the term “computer-readable storage medium”broadly refers to and is not limited to a register, a cache memory, aROM, a semiconductor memory device (such as a D-RAM, S-RAM, or otherRAM), a magnetic medium such as a flash memory, a hard disk, amagneto-optical medium, an optical medium such as a CD-ROM, a DVDs, orBD, or other type of device for electronic data storage.

Although features and elements are described above in particularcombinations, each feature or element can be used alone or in anycombination with the other features and elements. For example, eachfeature or element as described above with reference to FIGS. 1-7 may beused alone without the other features and elements or in variouscombinations with or without other features and elements. Sub-elementsof the methods and features described above with reference to FIGS. 1-7may be performed in any arbitrary order (including concurrently), in anycombination or sub-combination.

What is claimed:
 1. A method for improving security of a digitaltransaction using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), the methodcomprising: determining to whether an alert related to a task is sent toa registered individual; on a condition that the alert related to thetask is to be sent, generating an email message, wherein the emailincludes at least one mailto link, a token, and a form for theregistered individual to complete; transmitting, using SMTP, the emailmessage to the registered individual; receiving, using SMTP, a responseemail from the registered individual responsive that includesinformation entered by the registered individual in the form, whereinthe response email is generated by the registered individual selectingthe mailto link and includes the token; and authenticating the responseemail; and on a condition that the response email is authenticated,decoding the information that the registered individual entered in theform using the token to determine responses of the registeredindividual; and performing the digital transaction by updating aninformation database with the responses of the registered individual. 2.The method of claim 1 further comprising generating a result message tobe sent to the registered individual.
 3. The method of claim 2 furthercomprising sending, using SMTP, the result message to the registeredindividual.
 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the result message isresponsive to the registered individual's response email.
 5. The methodof claim 4 further comprising determining whether the result message wassuccessfully delivered to the registered individual.
 6. A method forimproving security of a digital transaction using Simple Mail TransferProtocol (SMTP), the method comprising: determining to whether an alertrelated to a task is sent to a registered individual; on a conditionthat the alert related to the task is to be sent, generating an alertmessage, wherein the alert message includes a first mailto link;transmitting the alert message to the registered individual; receiving,using SMTP, a first response from the registered individual, wherein thefirst response is generated by the registered individual selecting thefirst mailto link; transmitting, using SMTP, a form message to theregistered individual, wherein the form message includes a second mailtolink, a token and a form for the registered individual to complete;receiving, using SMTP, a second response from the registered individual,wherein the second response is generated by the registered individualselecting the second mailto link and includes information entered by theregistered individual in the form; authenticating the second response;and on a condition that the second response is authenticated, performingthe digital transaction by updating an information database with theinformation entered by the registered individual in the form based onthe token.
 7. The method of claim 6 further comprising generating aresult message to be sent to the registered individual.
 8. The method ofclaim 7 further comprising sending the result message to the registeredindividual.
 9. The method of claim 8 wherein the result message isresponsive to the second response.
 10. The method of claim 9 furthercomprising determining whether the result message was successfullydelivered to the registered individual.
 11. The method of claim 6wherein the alert message is an Short Message Service (SMS) message. 12.The method of claim 6 wherein the alert message is a social mediamessage.
 13. A system for improving security of a digital transactionusing Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), the system comprising: anetwork interface that is communicatively coupled to a client device ofa registered individual; a memory that stores an information database;and a processor that is communicatively coupled to the network interfaceand the memory; wherein the processor: determines whether an alertrelated to a task is sent to the registered individual, on a conditionthat the alert related to the task is to be sent, generates an alertmessage, wherein the alert message includes a first mailto link,transmits, via the network interface, the alert message to the clientdevice of the registered individual, receives, using SMTP via thenetwork interface, and a first response from the registered individual,wherein the first response is generated by the registered individualselecting the first mailto link on the client device, transmits, usingSMTP via the network interface, a form message to the registeredindividual, wherein the form message includes a second mailto link, atoken and a form for the registered individual to complete on the clientdevice, receives, using SMTP via the network interface, a secondresponse from the registered individual, wherein the second response isgenerated by the registered individual selecting the second mailto linkand includes information entered by the registered individual in theform, authenticates the second response, and on a condition that thesecond response is authenticated, performs the digital transaction byupdating the information database with the information entered by theregistered individual in the form based on the token.
 14. The system ofclaim 13 wherein the alert message is an Short Message Service (SMS)message.
 15. The system of claim 13 wherein the alert message is asocial media message.
 16. The system of claim 13 wherein the processorfurther generate a result message to be sent to the registeredindividual.
 17. The system of claim 16 wherein the processor furthersends, via the network interface, the result message to the registeredindividual.
 18. The system of claim 17 wherein the processor furtherdetermines whether the result message was successfully delivered to theregistered individual.
 19. The system of claim 13 wherein the alertmessage is a Short Message Service (SMS) message.
 20. The system ofclaim 13 wherein the alert message is a social media message.